Tuesday, March 24, 2009

After much deliberation, I have decided to start up a group in Toronto called the "Mobile Developers and Designers of Toronto". Mobile development is on the uprise, and I believe that a group like this is needed right about now.

It will be a monthly meeting with presentations by other developers and designers, with lots of opportunity for learning and networking.

How is this group different than Mobile Monday Toronto? MoMoTo has been around for almost three years now, and I am a regular attendee (when I can make it). They get a large turnout, and have recently moved their meetings to the facilities at MaRS. Jim and Alex have done a great job putting this group together and get some large draws for the presenters.

What MoMoTo does not do all that well is give presentations that address the needs of developers and designers. It doesn't talk about the technical and creative challenges presented to the teams that are in charge of actually building the various mobile applications.

So, look it up on Facebook, and join the group. Come on out to the meetings (our first is April 8th). If you would like to present something, please drop me a line!

Monday, March 02, 2009

There was a mobile conference called "Mobile Connect" that was schedule for March 10-14 in Santa Clara. This conference was recently canceled for unspecified reasons. I should say that it has been "postponed", but in my opinion, when you postpone an event with no new scheduled date, then it's really just canceled.

This does bring some concern to me, as FITC:Mobile is still moving ahead for September. Clearly, there are many reasons why a conference such as this may fail.

I tried to find out the cost of this conference, but since it's been postponed, the only pricing information left on their site is that if you need to cancel your registration, there is a $150.00 USD administration fee that is non-refundable. This is already more than the Super Early Bird and Early Bird prices for FITC:Mobile.

Another thing I noticed is the types of sessions that were at Mobile Connect. The topics seem to be extremely technically oriented, specializing in very niche topics. While the sessions for FITC:Mobile are far from being finalized, it should be recognized that there have not been very many conferences targeting mobile developers, and as a result it is safe to assume that most developers are not long time mobile veterns, but rather they are developers who are slowly getting into developing for mobile. FITC:Mobile will have sessions that target all levels of developers, encouraging those who don't know to learn, and for those who do know to share.

Overall, it's unfortunate that Mobile Connect has been postponed. The mobile industry as a whole needs to have more successes than failures if it is to succeed.

FITC: Toronto has been a major succes for 8 years now, and it is hoped that the Toronto location will help spur the success of FITC: Mobile.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The mobile phone has reached a level of adoption that far exceeds that of the personal computer. As a result, they are an emerging platform for new services and applications that have the potential to change the way we live and communicate.The iPhone, since its launch, last July has had an incredible adoption curve and is reshaping people’s relationship with their mobile phones and forcing competitors to define themselves against the iPhone. So what is it all about?

This workshop aims to get inside the iPhone and understand its advantages (and disadvantages?) and how to create software for it.

The focus of this workshop will be split between theory and practical.

Attendees will be divided into groups to work on small tutorials to create applications for their iPhone.

Who this workshop is for:

Designers, developers and anybody else who would like to explore using the iPhone in their creative projects. No programming experience is required, but it would be an asset.

About James EberhardtJames is co-founder of Echo Mobile and a Technical Director with over 13 years of experience of leading convergent media projects, and works with production companies to deliver content and stories to audiences through any available screen – particularly the ubiquitous screens of mobile devices. In 2009 James will be conducting workshops on iPhone development in Toronto, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Workshop outline:

3 days x 7 hours (21 hours total)

What this workshop will cover:

Introduction to the iPhone SDKIntroduction to Objective-C ProgrammingIncorporating GPS Information into a ProjectConnecting to online dataAnimating 3D ObjectsTaking Mobile PhotosMedia: Audio and VideoExploring the Touch InterfaceExploring Apple Human Interface Guidelines and built in GUI elementsCreating User InterfacesInteracting using the accelerometerCreating and testing prototypesDistributing iPhone Applications on the iTunes store